Design Ethics Should Be Psychotherapy Ethics
We tell our therapists our deepest, darkest secrets — we tell our smartphones even more than that.
People who use technology are vulnerable and need to be protected from abuses by the powerful. The wonders of what tech believes it can achieve through slick “solutions” often trumps ethical considerations.
Tech leaders need to study the ethical achievements of mental health professionals not only to remain on the right side of history but also to help keep the industry viable.
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Put an x-ray machine up to mental health counseling and you reveal a profound relationship between therapist and client. The skeleton of this therapeutic relationship is inherently a power-dynamic. The therapist is the “expert” and the client is the vulnerable recipient of their therapist’s expertise. This “high-low” power dynamic has been, can be, and is abused.
The history of psychotherapy only spans a little over one hundred years but it is a history blanketed with moral and ethical crimes by therapists against their clients.
It is ironic to say but the mental health field has been revolutionized by prioritizing the well-being of their clientele. Mental health clients are the focus of protection by practitioners from a power dynamic that can easily be abused. Power dynamics are mitigated when the ethics of partnership and oversight emerges.
There is an even more significant power-dynamic between the creators of technologies and their users.
Ethics are a set of declared-correct behaviors that stem from what a group finds most-valuable.
The core values of modern therapy are:
autonomy: or fostering the right to control the direction of one’s life
non-maleficence: avoiding actions that cause harm
beneficence: working for the good of the individual and society by promoting mental health and well-being
justice: treating individuals equitably and fostering fairness and equality
fidelity: honoring commitments and keeping promises, including fulfilling one’s responsibilities of trust in professional relationships; and
veracity: dealing truthfully with individuals with whom counselors come into professional contact.
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Modern digital technologies rely on the private information of their user base. “Too-big-to-fail” tech giants’ entire business models rely on vacuuming up and retailing peoples’ data. Data is now a commodity — like sugar or oil — and this leaves people unknowingly vulnerable.
In traffic management stop signs are often installed when too many accidents happen in a specific intersection. If and when the intersection of technology and people experiences enough calamity, stop signs will need to be installed.
The financial imperatives of Silicon Valley (and most capitalistic ventures) shy from regulation with the belief a “slippery slope” of market hinderance will inhibit growth. Big tech needs to understand that stop signs don’t close a road — they in fact allow it to continue to stay open safely.
If indeed “people are the product” of large multination technology corporations should take heed from the history of ethics in psychotherapy. But unfortunately these massive companies’ business decisions are often surrounded by tall and opaque walls of secrecy. If we the users can’t see inside of these walls we will have to at least watch the actions of tech companies because their actions will ultimately show us what they value.
